The Collector of Tales
The Quay
Caramelised Onion Chutney
Caramelised Onion Chutney
Caramelised Onion Chutney is one of those sublime accompaniments to good cheese even though there isn't a gram of meat or animal produce involved. This recipe was originally published a number of years ago on a previous blog.
Ingredients
10-12 red onions - see method
1 large red chilli
2 bay leaves
25ml olive oil
300g soft brown sugar)
400ml (cheapish) balsamic vinegar
0.5 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp chilli
1 tsp salt
Method
Peel and slice the onions thinly until you have 800g of sliced onions.
Remove the seeds and slice the chilli into small thin strips.
Add oil, onions, chilli and bay leaves to a large pan and cook on a slow heat until the onions are brown and sticky (about 40 minutes or so if in the bottom of an Aga).
Then add the sugar, vinegar clove and salt and simmer for about 30 minutes until the chutney is thick and dark.
Remove the bay leaves.
Pour into hot sterilised jars and close up whilst still hot.
Leave for about four weeks before using but this is more for maturing flavour and not health reasons!
Observations
The taste is great. Hot with a hint of clove behind it, sweet and malty and with the texture of the onions.
I think there is too much vinegar in the recipe as the resultant chutney was quite wet. I don't think that it will spoil the delivery of the chutney but I think that I will use only 300 ml of vinegar next time.
It was a bit of a challenge to get the onions to caramelise in the bottom Aga and so I put them on the top for about 10 minutes after half an our in the oven.